Asus uses its ROG Strix cooler design for RTX 40-series graphics cards, all the way up to the paltry RTX 4060. Asus turns what should be a compact two-slot GPU into a 3.1-slot behemoth to match the size of its already huge RTX 4090 Strix -model.
To be fair to Asus, the RTX 4060 model is slightly smaller: 3.1 slots compared to 3.5 slots for the RTX 4090 version. Regardless, this is a massive cooler for a relatively modest graphics card. This isn’t the recently released RTX 4060 Ti – although that too gets the triple-slot treatment – but the upcoming RTX 4060, which is set to launch in July.
Asus
The RTX 4060’s list price is $300, but Asus will likely charge a premium for its ROG Strix design. Asus offers two ROG Strix models, both with the same cooler, but one is factory overclocked. You can expect this design to be slightly more expensive.
These are the only two RTX 4060 models Asus has announced, but more are likely to come. The recently launched RTX 4060 Ti has more compact designs at list price and features a more manageable dual-fan design.
The RTX 4060 is a strange graphics card from Nvidia’s latest generation. Unlike the more expensive flagship designs we’ve seen, like the RTX 4080, the RTX 4060 is actually more affordable than its previous-gen counterparts. It’s $50 cheaper than the RTX 2060 and $30 cheaper than the RTX 3060.
It’s also slimmer compared to the RTX 3060, with less VRAM and a thinner memory bus. Unlike the RTX 4060 Ti, there’s no core reduction compared to the previous generation, which hopefully means it’s a pretty beating and a solid value at around $300. That will be important as the RTX 4060 Ti has recently come under criticism for its disappointing generational improvements.
AMD has already rushed to match that price with the $270 RX 7600, a solid, if not exceptional, graphics card for 1080p gaming. The RTX 4060 vs RX 7600 comparison will be important for budget gamers.
Intel’s Arc GPUs are also playing an increasingly important role in this price range. The Arc A750 and A770 weren’t stellar graphics cards when they launched, but with minor generational improvements from AMD and Nvidia combined with falling prices for Intel’s graphics cards, they seem to be increasingly attractive options for 1080p.
The RTX 4060 is slated to launch in July, but Nvidia hasn’t announced an exact date yet. There won’t be a Founder’s Edition theme, so third-party cards like the one Asus listed are the only way to find the GPU. Alongside this, Nvidia is planning to release the 16GB RTX 4060 Ti for $500, which will be the same as the RTX 4060 Ti we have today but with a boost in VRAM.
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